


Hello World, Hope You're Listening

by NightCourt_HighLady



Series: A Court of Lyrics and Melodies [4]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 11:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9654863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightCourt_HighLady/pseuds/NightCourt_HighLady
Summary: Somehow, when Feyre and Rhys feel the most alone, they both find a song that brings them closer together- if only for the moment. Set while Feyre is in the Spring Court.Set during ACOWAR.Songfic for Come Home by One Republic and Sara Bareilles





	

Rhys had never felt this lost before.

Every day, every moment, was just autopilot. It was as though his emotions were gone. He did what he had to do, avoiding true thinking.

If he couldn't think, he couldn't miss her.

That was a lie of course. He could and did miss her. Every tiny piece of him just  _ached_. He had never felt this much pain. All he had of her was the weakened bond between them. The bond that barely allowed them to sense each other. Though in a way it was a blessing- they couldn't feel each others pain. At least not consciously.

He didn't sleep properly at night. All he had were nightmares. Nightmares where he was stuck under Amarantha again- but this time with Feyre watching. Nightmares of his mate, his High Lady, stuck under the male who saw her as a possession instead of a person. Nightmares where he heard the crack of her spine breaking over and over, watching her _feeling her_  die over and over, wondering if she would be able to hold on this time, if they'd be able to save her. 

It was like after Under the Mountain, only so much worse for having known such happiness.

That night, Rhys allowed himself to feel. Every once and a while he left the couch where he was sleeping to go to the roof and look at the stars and remind himself that Feyre could see the same stars. That she need only look out of her window in that  _prison_ that he'd left her in. He allowed himself to miss her, to love her. So that when she returned, he could still be the Rhys that she loved, that the High Lord of the Night Court hadn't become him completely.

He couldn't even sleep in a proper bed without her now. Such a short time to be able to love someone so much. He had loved her for so much time before, but love is so  _different_ when it was reciprocated. Unrequited love was almost this much pain, but with only wondering at the potential. This pain was of  _knowing_ that what they had was everything they ever needed and now it was  _gone_. 

Most days, Rhys held himself like the clenched fists he often kept in his pockets: tense and hoping for a fight.

Some days he wouldn't leave his room.

Tonight, he stared at the stars and allowed himself to pour his heart to them.

_Hello world_   
_Hope you're listening_

It wouldn't surprise him if it wasn't. The world had turned against him so long go that he didn't even know when it had happened. But in his five centuries, even in the decades of Amarantha's rule, he'd never been able to completely give up hope.

And the moment he came close was when he began seeing visions of the human artist.

His Feyre.

_Forgive me if I’m young_   
_For speaking out of turn_   
_There’s someone I’ve been missing_

He missed her so much. He didn't know how to cope with it. So he just buried every emotion deeply under the darkness that he was, only letting them out when they began to threaten his sanity as much as his own power did. His heart, body, and soul burned with the need to protect and love her. 

_I think that they could be_   
_The better half of me_

She was his better half. She was his equal. She was worth so much more than she thought she was. He simply wanted to be able to prove that to her. To spend the centuries telling her how much she's loved.

_They’re in the wrong place trying to make it right_

She thought she wasn't needed. She thought this was the only way she could help. Could she help this way? Of course. But she had no idea of how absolutely indispensable she was to him. She'd saved them all by sacrificing herself, feeling  _guilt_ about what that monster had done in her name.

_But I’m tired of justifying_

He was so tired of trying to convince himself that she was where she needed to be.

_So I say to you.._   
_Come home_

He wanted her here in Velaris. He wanted her in his city, in his arms, and in his bed. Safe at last.

_Come home_   
_Cause I’ve been waiting for you_   
_For so long_   
_For so long_

Months she'd been gone. And the lives she'd saved were many. But he was so  _exhausted_. 

He just wanted her back.

_Right now there's a war between the vanities_   
_But all I see is you and me_

He was losing sight of why this was actually important. All he could see was her. Half of his visions were his nightmares. The other half were his dreams.

_The fight for you is all I’ve ever known_

He had fought for and protected her from the moment he had met her. And for the first time, there was absolutely nothing he could do but wait and watch. Even when she was dying slowly month by month he hadn't felt this agony. The only comparison was her human death. That was the only thing worse than what he felt today.  
 _So come home_  
 _Oh_

_~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~_

For once, Tamlin had left her alone at night.

She couldn't sleep. All she could think about was Rhys. She only ever had nightmares. But these were horrible ones. Ones where she had to watch when Amarantha took him. Ones where she never healed him from the bloodbane and he had died there in her arms. Ones where it was not Tamlin but  _him_ that she had to stab to save the faeries. 

Tonight, she had some peace. She walked to the window and looked up at the stars, missing Velaris, hoping that Rhys could see the same stars.

Wondering if he could miss her as much as she missed him.

Softly, ever so softly, Feyre opened her mouth and allowed herself to feel.

_I get lost in the beauty_   
_Of everything I see_

The Spring Court was beautiful. But it was the sort of beautiful that trapped. The beauty of a poisoned apple or a venomous snake. Some days she wanted to walk around and get lost in the beauty to drown the pain that was yet again her daily bread.

_The world ain’t half as bad_   
_As they paint it to be_

Feyre vaguely remembered the way she once regarded this land. With fear and hatred. Creatures who cared nothing of anyone lower than they. But this was also a land of love and beauty. A still, calm beauty of a night full of stars. A quiet, understated beauty like the crescent moon.

_If all the sons,_   
_All the daughters_   
_Stopped to take it in_   
_Well hopefully the hate subsides and the love can begin_

If they could only see, they wouldn't fight. Without this war she would not be in this golden prison cell. If only they could see...

_It might start now, yeah_   
_Well maybe I’m just dreaming out loud_

Feyre knew it was almost over. It could end any day now. But telling herself that felt like only words. Like she was just saying them to convince herself to keep going. She was, but that didn't make them untrue.

_Until then..._   
  
  
_Come home_   
_Come home_   
_Cause I’ve been waiting for you_

She could not feel much from him, but she could feel the waiting. The wear it's causing him. Both of them. She just wants him back.

_For so long_   
_For so long_   
_Right now there's a war between the vanities_

She couldn't have sat there in the town house in Velaris for all that time and just done nothing. She couldn't have. 

_But all I see is you and me_

And even with the lives she has saved, she begins to doubt this course of action again. She wonders if this pain will ever truly feel as though it was worth it.

_The fight for you is all I’ve ever known_   
_Ever known_

Feyre had been fighting for him, for them, for longer than she'd known. Her whole life had conspired to lead her to him. 

And she'd walked away. To protect his people, true, but she'd still gone.

_So come home_   
_Oh_   
  
_Everything I can’t be_   
_Is everything you should be_   
_And that’s why I need you here_

They were two puzzle pieces, beautiful and unique in their own right, but together revealing things that they were incapable of alone. 

_Everything I can’t be_   
_Is everything you should be_   
_And that’s why I need you here_

They were capable of surviving alone, but why should they have to? They were so much  _better_ together.

_So hear this now..._   
  
_Come home_   
_Come home_   
_Cause I’ve been waiting for you_

Their patience is thin, they simply need each other.

_For so long_   
_For so long_

They were balanced. They were so similar, yet so different. Strengthening each other's weaknesses, holding them up when they couldn't go on.

_Right now there's a war between the vanities_   
_But all I see is you and me_   
_The fight for you is all I’ve ever known_

Everything that they'd ever faced, every pain they ever felt, had been molding them for each other.

_Ever known_   
_So come home_   
_Come home_

That night, for once, Feyre and Rhys both slept without a single nightmare, dreaming simply of being in each other's arms again.


End file.
